Category Archives: Colony High School

Sometimes, I cover a game, and it’s so entertaining a game that there’s more I want to get to than I can possibly mention in a story. Such was the Kaiser/Colony football game on Friday, won by Colony 23-19.

Some thoughts:

Each team scored 3 touchdowns and there were no other scores. Kaiser had its first PAT blocked, went for 2 on the second and failed, then kicked the third. Colony kicked the first, then went for 2 and made it on the second and third touchdowns.

The math wouldn’t indicate it, but Colony made the right move going for 2 on its final touchdown. Usually, you go for 2 late in a game when a TD puts you up 1, 4 or 5, but in this case, it put the Titans up 21-19. Going for 2 had more to do with Kaiser. Kaiser had attempted just one FG all year, and missed it. So going up 3 would’ve meant little in this game. But going up 4 would’ve been helpful because if Kaiser came back to score a TD and kicked an XP, Colony could’ve tied with a FG.

Kaiser’s drives ended with: Downs, lost fumble, TD, TD, halftime, punt, TD, downs/INT. Just one punt for the Cats. Kaiser ran more plays on its first drive 19 than Colony had in the first half (12). Colony had 3 drives end after just 1 play: 2 TDs, and one lost a fumble. Kaiser had six drives end in Colony territory.

On Kaiser’s opening drive, they appeared to be getting a first-and-goal at the Colony 9 as Colony was being called for pass interference on fourth-and-15 at the 19. But Kaiser also got a penalty for illegal man downfield. The down was replayed on the offsetting fouls and Kaiser failed to convert the 4th-and-15 the second time.

So what school or school district has gone the longest without a title or an appearance in a championship football games?
Redlands East Valley is the first Redlands district school in the finals since Redlands lost a 55-0 contest to Edison in the 1979 Big Five Conference.
Colony last appeared in the finals in 2007, the second straight year it did so. Winning the Central Division title would make it the seventh time in the last nine years (since CIF-SS went from numbers to names on division) that a San Bernardino County school won the Central Division. Since 2007, a Chaffey Joint High School District school has won in 2008 (Rancho Cucamonga) and finished second in 2009 (Los Osos). Chaffey won the inaugural CIF championship in 1913, a 19-0 win against Santa Ana. Upland won in 2009, Colton in 2010 and Kaiser in 2012.
Serrano’s last title was 10 years ago against Palm Springs, the same school they’ll face Friday. That was also the last CIF-SS football title for the San Bernardino County portion of the High Desert. The Diamondbacks are 1-4 in title games, the last loss five years ago against Palm Springs.
Arrowhead Christian Academy won titles in 1996-97 and last played in the championship game in 2001, a 43-16 win over Mammoth in Division XIII.

Still no state champions in wrestling from San Bernardino County since Rim’s Ricky Turk in 2002, but the county produced five state placers on Saturday in Bakersfield: Sultana’s Matt Welch (fourth, 112), Barstow’s Sean Silva (fourth, 119, 2nd time placing in state), REV’s Chris Mecate (fifth, 125), Oak Hills’ Robert Marchese (eighth, 160, school’s first-ever state placer) and Sultana’s Manuel Mazariegos (7th, heavyweight).
It’s the first time Sultana’s had 2 state placers in the same meet. Not a bad showing. And Welch was impressive a year after he was ineligible due to grades.
I do think, however, Rialto’s Giordan Porter got a raw deal in his last match. He should’ve been awarded a takedown with 12 seconds left, when the referee ruled him out of bounds and he ended up losing by one point.
Sometimes you need to avoid back luck and you need to get a good draw to place. Porter and Colony’s Cody Dixon, 2 CIF-SS Masters champions, were both victims of that.

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Three County wrestlers made it through the first day unscathed at the CIF State Championships in Bakersfield, and will be wrestling in the semifinals Saturday morning.

Sultana senior 112-pounder Matt Welch, ranked third, will wrestle No. 1-ranked Alex Cisneros of Selma in the semifinals. Cisneros, a sophomore won 103 pounds last year.Barstow senior 119-pounder Sean Silva won 10-0, 8-3, and 5-4. Silva, ranked third, will face second-ranked Bryan Grubbs of La Costa Canyon in the semifinals.Redlands East Valley junior 125-pounder Chris Mecate won twice via technical fall, then 3-0 and 5-1 to advance to the semifinals. Mecate, ranked fourth, will face second-ranked Chris Martinez of Fresno Clovis West in the semifinals. On the other side of the bracket, No. 1-ranked Jesse Delgado of Gilroy has already lost.
Those are the 3 standouts from the county, but others are still alive in consolation.
Both of Oak Hills’ wrestlers, Ray Delgado (112) and Robert Marchese (160) are still in consolation, needing to win their first match Saturday to make the top eight.
Sultana’s five wrestlers started the day 8-0, but faltered after that. Other than Welch, however, only heavyweight Manuel Mazariegos is still alive among the five Sultans. Mazariegos won twice, lost 2-1, then won twice in consolation.
Rialto heavyweight Giordan Porter is still alive in consolation. He lost a 5-4, double-overtime match in the third round, but won via pin and 1-0 to remain alive.
Colony 160-pounder Cody Dixon is also alive, losing his first match by a 15-1 score, but maneuvering through consolation.
Others who didn’t make Day 2:
San Gorgonio’s Richie Cascante (didn’t make weight at 112), Los Osos’ Tim Maldonado (119), Sultana’s Alec Smith (125), Michael Gonzalez (135) and Ryan McWatters (152), REV’s Pedro Vazquez (130), Bloomington’s Juan Alvarado (152), Hesperia’s Chris Sloat (160), REV’s Andrew Hudson (215, after finishing eighth last year).

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These were released Monday by the CIF-SS offices. Colony RB Jamil Austin and Etiwanda QB Angel Santiago shared the offensive player of the year honors while Upland LB Tim Helton grabbed defensive MVP honors. And predictably, Upland’s Tim Salter was the coach of the year.Continue reading →